Folksam Data Breach Leaks Info Of 1M Swedes To Google, Facebook, More
Folksam, one of the largest insurance companies in Sweden, today disclosed a data breach affecting around 1 million Swedes after sharing customers’ personal info with multiple technology giants.
The insurer discovered the data breach after an internal audit according to Jens Wikström, Head of Marketing and Sales at Folksam, and reported the incident to the Swedish Data Protection Authority (Datainspektionen).
“The companies that have received personal data from Folksam are, for example, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Linkedin, and Adobe,” Wikström explained. “The purpose has been, among other things, to analyze what information logged-in customers and other visitors searched for on folksam.se.”
The sensitive personal data shared by Folksam includes various types of info such as social security numbers or that an individual purchased union or pregnancy insurance.
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Analysis results of the shared data were used by the tech giants to provide customers with custom offers through Folksam’s and other companies’ communication channels said Wikström.
This should not happen and we are now working hard so that it never happens again. We map which personal data we share with our partners and how we share them. We work in parallel to ensure that we have routines and updated agreements in place. — Jens Wikström
“Our purpose with this has been to analyze and give our customers customized offers, but unfortunately we have not done it in the right way,” Wikström added.
After discovering the breach, Folksam immediately stopped sharing the sensitive information with its digital partners and requested the information be deleted by the companies which received it.
“We understand that this can cause concern among our customers and we take what has happened seriously,” Wikström said. “We immediately stopped sharing this personal information and requested that it be deleted.”
Folksam says that there is no evidence at the moment that the shared sensitive data has been used by any third parties improperly.
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Folksam is one of the largest investors in several big Swedish companies and is one of Sweden’s biggest asset managers as the overseer of $50 billion in insurance assets according to Bloomberg.
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